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12 Days Countdown—12/2/2012.

Text by Lynn McDaniel

Texas A&M University boasts two branch campuses—one in Galveston, Texas, and the other in Qatar.

In 1964, Texas A&M University at Galveston opened to provide opportunities for marine-based studies. Students at Texas A&M Galveston have the opportunity to earn bachelor’s degrees in 10 marine studies, and a master’s degree in marine biology. The Texas Maritime Academy, in conjunction with the Galveston Campus, provides students the opportunity to learn how to operate and maintain an ocean-going vessel. Successful graduates can become licensed officers in the U.S. Merchant Marine, or serve in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Naval Reserves or U.S. Coast Guard.

1
OUT of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me,
Whispering, I love you, before long I die,
I have travel’d a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you,
For I could not die till I once look’d on you,
For I fear’d I might afterward lose you.
2
(Now we have met, we have look’d, we are safe;
Return in peace to the ocean my love;
I too am part of that ocean, my love—we are not so much separated;
Behold the great rondure—the cohesion of all, how perfect!
But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us,
As for an hour carrying us diverse—yet cannot carry us diverse for ever;
Be not impatient—a little space—know you, I salute the air, the ocean and the land,
Every day, at sundown, for your dear sake, my love.)
(Whitman)

Lakes, seas, the ocean—water in general—has long been the subject of poetic and artistic inspiration. From the date of this post until December 15, 2012, patrons may experience the magic of water as expressed through art at the current exhibition Flow, in the Stark Galleries.

“This exhibition explores the many meanings associated with water through a selection of thirty-two works drawn from the collection of the Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Spanning a period from the 1920s to the 1990s, these works represent a variety of media, including oils, watercolors, sculpture, photographs and prints.”